Deception Part One: Love and Theft
by TheDeep
Summary: A bank robbery turns out to be a cover up for a much bigger plot, and it is only the beginning of a long road of twisted troubles! Faced with a former girlfriend, Mac is left wondering how it could possibly get any worse and how he can get not only himself, but Jo as well, out of this twisted web of lies and plots alive.
1. Chapter 1: Negotiation Gone Wrong

**A/N: So…this is a spur of the moment idea. Alright, you know the drill with disclaimers, but I won't keep you with my babbling any longer and let you read it.**

**~ Chapter One: Negotiation ~**

"Are you deaf, Detective Taylor? Put the gun down or I will shoot!"

Mac's worried gaze flicked between Jo and the suspects. Cloaked in dark hoodies, masks, jeans, and sunglasses, Mac couldn't get any positive IDs.

He loosened his grip momentarily on the .40 caliber standard-issue semi-automatic handgun held in his right hand before his fingers gripped the gun once more. He could feel the textured surface of the grip under his fingertips.

He was hesitant yet scared. If he didn't, they'd all be dead. If he did…they could still end up dead.

Five suspects. Four innocent people. Two Crime Scene Investigators. The odds were very uneven at this point. Five guns aimed at them and Mac was the only one with a gun now besides the suspect. All eyes were on him as they waited to see what he'd do.

Damn, these idiots were good. How the hell had they got him to agree to this? Why had he done this? Innocent lives were at stake. That's why.

"I'm not going to ask you again," the one in a black hoodie growled at him and Mac's gaze shifted to the one suspect closest to him that cocked his gun and took a careful aim at Mac's head.

Mac finally gave in and held his free hand up as he laid his gun on the floor, kicking it off to the side just as an extra precaution so these guys wouldn't start shooting like maniacs at everything and everyone in the quiet bank.

Now as Mac and Jo stood tense, their arms brushing up against each other's, unarmed, the only sound in the entire bank was the hum of the air conditioning system. Their number of hostages had just gone from four to six.

Cunning. Very cunning.

"No one moves or they both die, got it?" the one in the black hoodie growled again, this time his dark green eyes scanning over the four hostages on the floor. His response was silent nods and scared eyes. He nodded to the one with the red hoodie on and that man stepped up, pulling Mac's hands behind his back.

The thought of trying to fight back against this jerk crossed Mac's mind, but they had Jo. They had all their guns trained on her. He knew what the consequence would be. They would not hesitate.

As the man finished using Mac's own set of handcuffs to keep his hands behind his back, Mac thought back to the one day he knew he'd never forget and his thumb gently ran over the ring he wore on his right hand.

An engagement ring. A reminder of a wedding that had not been held. A wedding that was scheduled to be held in two weeks.

Jo looked over at him and took comfort from the fiery defiance burning in his blue eyes as he glared at the five hostage takers. She shifted nervously on her feet, her hands going in to fists before she opened them again.

His stubbornness was his strength and weakness. She feared it would get him killed as her gaze flicked between Mac and the gun held to his head. Two weeks. She couldn't believe that this was happening two weeks before their set date.

"Exactly what do you hope to accomplish by doing this?" Mac finally broke the palpable silence between criminal and law enforcement with a growl.

The man standing behind him tightened his grip on the trigger and tightened the cuffs around Mac's wrists one more click. Mac gritted his teeth as the metal dug in to his flesh but refused to let his annoyance at the cuffs show in his eyes. He wouldn't let them do this to him, not if he had a choice.

"You're in no place to be asking questions, Taylor! Keep your mouth shut and maybe I'll let all these bitches live!" the one in the black hoodie growled back at Mac, using his gun to indicate the three woman on the floor and Jo.

The one other hostage was the bank manager; a male that Mac guessed was in his early to mid-forties. Black hair and medium brown eyes.

Mac could feel his anger and frustration growing the longer he went without an answer to his questions. He'd come in here with Jo about two hours ago and they still knew no more than they did when they first walked in here and they still had guns trained on them.

The one in the black hoodie motioned one of his other guys over and they talked quietly for a moment. Mac strained to pick up on what they were discussing, but couldn't distinguish any of their words. They were talking too quiet.

Finally the two looked up at Jo and the one with black hoodie motioned to the floor with his gun. "On the floor," he snapped at Jo.

Mac felt the man standing behind him press the barrel of the gun harder against his skin, the gun's barrel rested in the crook between his neck and shoulder. Jo hesitated and looked over at Mac.

He silently nodded. He didn't want her hurt. He'd do anything to keep her safe.

Jo finally got down on the floor. Mac's gaze didn't waver from her until she was on the floor and he felt she was safe. The man standing behind him pushed him down on his knees and one of the others joined him before they blindfolded Mac.

Mac was starting to wonder how they'd been so prepared for this situation. It's like they knew this would happen and were entirely prepared to hold him and Jo hostage. Had this been part of their plan? To make a distraction out of the hostages so they could kidnap two cops? Even then there had been no guarantee that he and Jo would be the two sent in to do the negotiating. They had barely waited for authorization to do it in the first place.

Mac still felt the man's hand firmly on his shoulder and the gun against his skin. This situation was just getting worse as the seconds ticked by and Mac's experience allowed him to easily calculate all the possible outcomes, good and bad.

He heard a bit of another conversation. He thought he picked up on the word "ransom." Is that what they wanted? Ransom for their six hostages? Exactly how did they plan to obtain that? Surely they'd be asking for quite an amount. They had two CSIs and four innocent citizens. That was plenty enough to cause reason to ask for a healthy-sized chunk of cash.

He needed to figure out what was up here. And he needed to figure out fast or they might all be in for a lot of trouble.


	2. Chapter 2: Highway To Hell

**~ Chapter Two: Highway To Hell ~**

Jo leaned in to Mac as they sat with their backs against the wall. The suspects had made a call to the CSI team and told them what was to go down.

They wanted four-million dollars in two days. The time would be up two days from current at 6:30 PM.

Mac kept a careful watch on the suspects as they milled about, talking to each other and ordering the civilians around. He felt Jo gripping the collar of his shirt. She was scared. Hell, even Mac was wandering on the edge of just being suspicious and being scared.

He turned his attention back to her as her other hand gently ran up his neck and then through his hair before returning to grip at the collar of his shirt again as she buried her face in his shoulder. Wanting to comfort her, but still restrained by the handcuffs on his wrists, he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head before he closed his eyes. He could still catch a trace of the perfume she put on this morning and she had definitely taken a shower this morning from the slight hint of coconut he picked up. He loved that smell.

"Everything's going to be alright," he murmured softly, trying to at least calm her down.

Jo looked up at him and Mac was about to continue when two of the suspects walking towards them caused him to look away from her.

"We're leaving," one of the suspects stated bluntly as him and the other man with him both pulled out guns and aimed them at Mac and Jo. "On your feet," the men demanded.

Mac and Jo had no choice but to stand up. As soon as they did, one of the men grabbed Mac roughly and pushed him against the wall. Mac let out a gasp of surprise as the man slammed his back against the wall and then quickly placed a hand firmly over his mouth. Mac turned his worried gaze to Jo to see the other man had tied her hands behind her back and blindfolded her already. That sent Mac's anger spiking and he struggled to pull away as the man standing before him went to put ductape over his mouth.

His struggling earned him a hard hit across the face with the handle of the man's gun and Mac winced at the stinging blow. Before he could recover enough to pull away, he was blindfolded and had ductape over his mouth.

He could hear Jo growl something angrily at one of the kidnappers as he was roughly led out to the back of the bank. Apparently they didn't want to make their leave apparent to the media. He couldn't blame them there.

The next thing he knew he was in the back of a van beside Jo. Although both of them were blindfolded, Mac could still feel Jo's warm breath on the side of his face as she leaned against him.

He wondered where they were being taken. Why had the suspects given up four of their hostages and only taken him and Jo with them?

He really wanted to know what was going on. If he could figure that out, and find out what their plans were, he could possibly find a way to get him and Jo out of here with their lives.

Only a few small conversations were carried out on the long ride. Mac figured they were heading way out of the city. Why else would they be going for so long? And the usual sounds of the city traffic were not here. They were definitely not within in the city's limits.

It seemed like forever to Mac until they stopped.

"We're here," he heard one of the suspects growl. There was a creepy, pleased tone to his voice that sent a shiver down Mac's spine. He felt a hand grab his arm and haul him to his feet roughly almost as soon as he heard Jo growl a warning to be careful.

If they hurt her, he would find a way to personally strangle them all to death. He promised himself that much.

The men took them inside, shoving both Mac and Jo along the halls roughly. Once, Mac stumbled and hit the wall with his shoulder before Jo stumbled in to him. They barely recovered before they were shoved further down the hallway.

It smelled musty, as if no one had been there for at least the past three or four years. The hall seemed incredibly dark with the blindfold over his eyes. It wasn't too long that he heard an old door open with a loud creaking noise and he and Jo were led inside.

One of the men sat Mac down in a chair and tied his feet to the legs of the chair and then tied his hands to the armrests before he pulled the blindfold off.

Mac glared silently at him and his gaze instantly found Jo. They led her and sat her down in a chair behind Mac. He couldn't help but be reminded of an Indiana Jones movie he had seen a while back. The room was set up almost identically to that one scene he remembered from that movie. He couldn't help but find that very ironic.

"Quinn will be in soon to have a nice talk with you," one of the men said.

Mac's gaze instantly jumped to that man and disbelief quickly showed in his eyes, his blood running cold.

The disbelief on Mac's face made the man laugh, one of those evil, careless laughs that showed he didn't give a damn about many things in life.

"Yes, Detective Taylor. You know Quinn," he said, confirming Mac's worst fear. He then walked over and quickly pulled the ductape off. Mac flinched from the sting and couldn't bring himself to meet the man's gaze as he stared down at the floor.

The man patted him roughly on the shoulder and Mac shot a glance at him as he left, laughing with the others. Mac's disbelieving gaze followed them the whole way out.

"Mac…who's Quinn?" Jo asked from behind him.

He felt her gently brush her fingers on his hand. He could imagine they were a bit too far set apart to hold hands.

Mac shook his head, the memories from his past quickly coming back to haunt him. "I knew her. One of the mistakes I made in my life," he told her, eyes closed as he lowered his head a bit and his gaze returned to studying the inconsistent patter on the wooden floor.

"Mistake?"

Mac bit his lip at the new voice and he felt his shoulders slump. What in the world was going on here?

"I never thought we were a mistake, Mac Taylor." The voice belonged to a woman. Mac recognized the voice from a long time ago.

"It was a stupid mistake," Mac muttered. Quinn stood beside him now. He didn't look at her, but when she laid a hand on his arm, it sent a shiver down his spine and he instantly tried to pull away only for the ropes that tied him down to dig in to his wrists which were already sore from the handcuffs.

Now he felt her breath against his neck and he finally opened his eyes and looked at her. She flashed a seductive smile at him and ran a hand through his hair.

Mac jerked away from her, staring at her like she was from a different planet.

"You can just keep your damn hands off of me, thank you very much," he said. His voice was quiet but had a dark edge that he meant to be a warning to her.

She simply laughed and pulled him in to a rough kiss. Mac's eyes went wide in surprise and he struggled to get out of her grasp as she forced her tongue in to his mouth.

When she let go of him and pulled away, Mac sat back with a disgusted and shocked expression on his face as Quinn simply smiled and pulled up a stool to sit in front of him, hand on his knee.

"I can see you don't want to play along," she said, sounding hurt and looking past Mac to Jo.

"You leave her out of this," Mac snapped, knowing immediately what she was thinking about doing.

Quinn laughed evilly again. "Oh no, Mac. She'll just have to watch!" she grinned and leaned forward, placing a hand on his and looking at the ring on his finger. "I know who she is to you, Mac. And I can kill two birds with one stone with that kind of knowledge."


	3. Chapter 3: Love The Way You Lie

**Hey! Listening to "Love The Way You Lie" kind of sped up me getting this chapter up! Hope you like and I won't keep you any longer with this. You guys know the drill with disclaimers.**

. . . . . . .

Jo could only listen as Mac and Quinn tried to settle things from the past verbally. She could only imagine how tense he must be and the look on his face.

"You leave her out of this!" she heard Mac snap.

She bit at her lip just slightly. What Quinn said next made her blood run cold. What the hell was she planning to do with him?

Quinn now stood, Mac following her with his eyes as she walked around him. He knew where she was going, but he had no idea what she was planning so he struggled against the restraints momentarily before he finally listened to his common sense which told him fighting against the restraints was rather pointless. Not to mention what Quinn would do to Jo if she caught him.

"So you're Jo?" Quinn asked. Jo felt disgusted by the smile on Quinn's face. She was enjoying this so much and Jo seriously wished she could've punched that smile right off of the bitch's face.

Quinn was tall, roughly Mac's height at around 6 feet tall, with long black hair that she twirled around her finger as she looked from Jo to Mac.

When she finally looked back to Jo, she was smiling like a predator that was moving in for the final kill of their weak and downed prey.

But Quinn didn't say anything. Instead she began humming softly as she moved away from both Mac and Jo. Jo noticed she had a laptop. That made her frown. If she did anything that hurt Mac in any way, she'd find a way to make her pay for it.

Then Mac and Jo thought they picked up on something Quinn murmured.

"I love the way you lie."

Mac's brow furrowed. What the hell was going on with her? He was so busy contemplating this he didn't realized that Quinn had started playing a song on her laptop and walked back over to him, so when she quickly laid the knife she had picked up against his throat, he was startled back to the present.

Quinn smiled innocently at him and Mac just stared back at her, trying to find words to talk her out of this. Her eyes were going places Mac didn't like, which instantly shifted his purpose.

"If you think I'll cooperate with this shit, you've got another thought coming," he growled.

Quinn's eyes snapped up to meet Mac's own and the vicious look in them nearly startled Mac.

"You're lying. You wouldn't want Jo hurt, would you?" Quinn said. Her voice was so calm that it sent a chill down Mac's spine. It was people like this that he _really_ hated dealing with.

In one swift movement, Quinn opened Mac's shirt with the knife and Mac was instantly tense. Quinn smiled softly, sitting in front of him again.

This could just _not_ get any worse. He was _not_ prepared to believe this was happening.

"Why don't we go somewhere a bit more private?" Quinn suggested with a sick and soft smile that made Mac feel a bit sick.

. . . . . . .

"Whoa, slow down, alright?" Flack said, his hands up and in front of him just a bit as the woman in front of him looked back at him. There was one thing that was very clear to Don; whatever had happened in that bank had terrified her. "What happened? Where are the suspects and the detectives?" he asked calmly.

"They took them!" the woman exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air as if she had been telling Flack that the whole entire time.

"Wait…what? Who took who? Detective Taylor and Detective Danville?" Don asked, looking at her.

The woman nodded. "And they tied them up and blindfolded them! They told Detective Taylor he had to cooperate or they'd kill us all and Detective Danville!" she said.

Don got the impression that she could barely contain her worry, but that thought was a very distant one compared to the sudden red flag that popped up at the mention of restraints and Mac having to cooperate in order to keep everyone safe.

That meant that somewhere out there…Mac and Jo were unarmed and tied up. God knew how hurt they were at the moment. For some reason, he was instantly thinking the worst of their status, but he quickly banished that thought out of his conscious thought train.

"Stay put," he told the woman, who simply nodded.

"Danny!" Flack yelled as he jogged over to the CSI standing beside one of the Chevy trucks from the lab and several squad cars.

"What'd you find out?" Danny asked, not looking up from the computer he was working on.

"They took Mac and Jo," Flack said.

That made Danny look up, shock on his face, and he instantly dropped whatever he was doing with the computer.

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

Don nodded. "Witness says that they tied Mac and Jo up, blindfolded them and told Mac that if he didn't cooperate, they'd kill everyone, including Jo and the civilians," he explained.

"Shit!" Danny exclaimed and he took off across the street towards the bank, making his way through the officers and media crews.

"Messer!" Don yelled after him. When Danny didn't even slow down and look back, Don had no choice but to follow after him. God knew what could happen if he didn't.

He caught up to Danny as the CSI stood in the middle of the bank. Don looked around as Danny did the same.

There were several long moments of silence before Danny finally broke it.

"Don…" he choked.

Don followed his gaze. Sure enough, Mac's gun, along with Jo's obviously enough, laid there on the floor. It was almost perfectly set up like you would see on those flags or something. Both guns lay slightly cocked in angle on the floor, barrels propped up on two very familiar NYPD badges.

Two phones lay with the guns and badges.

"Shit," Don muttered quietly as him and Danny could do nothing but stare, stunned. When Don finally got his body to move, it felt like forever until he could carefully wrap his finger around the trigger guard of Mac's .40 caliber service weapon. The badge number that stared up at him was "8433."

That was one too many times that that badge number had stared back up at him, just a number that was no longer connected physically to a face.

Danny joined him momentarily, carefully lifting Jo's gun so that both badge numbers stared back up at them.

Don sighed quietly. "We have to find them."

. . . . . . .

Mac silently stared down at the floor. He kept asking himself what was going on, but he still didn't have answers.

Perfect of Quinn to leave him here alone like this. Alone with his thoughts and worried about what she could do to Jo. So perfect of her.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he shook his head and leaned back.

When he opened his eyes again, he simply sighed and stared around the room. "I love the way you lie," he muttered, shaking his head again. "Damn it, Quinn…what the hell do you want from me?"


	4. Chapter 4: It Ain't Over

**You guys asked for a longer chapter with lots of goodies and you wanted it fast, so I can only hope I met your demands with our wonderful friend, Chapter Four.**

**Chapter Four: It Ain't Over**

. . . . . .

Jo paced for what felt like hours to her. She chewed nervously at her lip, playing with her hair. All of it was an attempt to keep herself calm.

_Where's Mac? What has Quinn done with him?_

Those same two questions kept her pacing, didn't allow her to sit down and try to stay calm. Nothing was in her favor at this point.

_Where is he? Is he ok? What have the team found out? What happened with those four civilians we left behind?_

Back and forth. Back and forth. Three more times across the room. Then, half way through her next cycle across the room, something made her stop dead in her tracks.

A menacing laugh. A plead to stop, to have sense, to see that he didn't feel the same for her that she did him. And then something Jo had never heard before and prayed every night she would never have to hear, would pray the rest of her life that she would never hear again…

A scream…

There was only one man in the entire world that she would run to when she felt scared, every time she felt scared she would run to that same man.

Mac Taylor. She had never heard Mac Taylor scream before…and that sound would haunt her in her sleep for at least the next two months.

She had to hold both of her hands over her mouth to keep herself from yelling his name at the walls and she sank to her knees, feeling hot tears prick at her eyes before they slid down her face.

And then one thought. _I'm going to kill her. She will _not_ get away with this._

. . . . . . .

Adam chewed at his lip as his gaze darted between the computer screen and the microscope on the table. If he could just crack this mystery, they could get closer to finding Mac and Jo.

After he'd gotten the call from Danny that Mac and Jo had been taken from the bank and what they'd found, he'd instantly raced, somewhat unorganized to be entirely honest, out of the lab to help.

He might've had a few less than nervous-free moments with both Mac and Jo over the course of working with both detectives, but they were still his bosses. Even more so, they were his friends. _Family_ even. He'd find them no matter what it took.

As his mind raced through all of the possible places in the city they could be, the computer finally finished its breakdown and Adam's gaze was drawn back to the screen.

"Boom," he muttered.

Alright. He'd been spending _too much_ time with Danny if that's what was saying when he got results.

He took in everything on the screen before he quickly whipped his phone from his pocket and called Danny.

It wasn't much besides a general location for them to start putting their focus on, but it was still something.

. . . . . . . .

Mac had tried his best to keep his mouth shut, but there was just no feeling he could compare to the feeling of having a hot piece of metal pressed against his skin.

It hadn't helped that he hated Quinn.

He hadn't actually decided he hated the sorry-ass excuse for his ex-girlfriend until she had done this to him. Had done this to Jo.

He swore in his mind that he would find a way to at least see this crazy-ass bitch behind bars before he died, if not freakin' kill her.

His jaw clenched, he did not look at Quinn. She was humming and playing with her hair again as if this was something she did on a daily basis. And Mac had thought he'd seen it all.

Every day his job proved him wrong about that. There was always another way to kill another person. There was always developments in the science of Crime Scene Investigation. There was always a new experience waiting for him after the alarm clock woke him at 5 in the morning every day. 24/7, 365 days a year, he was on-call.

He marveled at this all as he sat there. They lived in an always changing, always evolving, and extremely cruel world. And as much as he did his job, putting the people that didn't give a fuck about anyone besides themselves away every single day he showed up for work, he allowed himself to make the statement that he really didn't give a fuck about Quinn anymore.

To hell with trying to talk sense in to her. He could clearly see the reason he'd been with her at the moment. She didn't really care about a lot and she was ready to have fun. He could imagine that probably caught his attention when he was younger, just like all the other teens nowadays. They loved a girl that could drink and party.

Damn. What a bright outlook all of these thoughts created on American Society! It seemed almost ironic to him.

Wait a minute… What had started this series of thoughts anyways? Where in the world had he come up with this train of thought?

He looked over at Quinn finally. She looked back at him. He saw immediately that she wasn't finished yet. Her eyes were clear of any emotion except for a fierce longing as she looked him over.

She still found him attractive. Even after years of chasing suspects and not seeing him, he was still what she wanted.

She thought the look in his eyes turned her on the most. That look of hatred and defiance was so hot on him with that hot shade of blue. She could see why Jo had fallen for him. He was definitely a good looking man who knew how to fuck someone up pretty bad if you pushed him to it.

Then she frowned. She knew exactly how she would fuck with his life though. He had turned her down and she did not forgive easily when men betrayed her heart like that. They could've been so good with each other, but he had said no and turned her down.

Yes, he was much stronger than her and a lot more trained than her, but now he was tied down. That was enough to humiliate any regular man. When you tied a man down, you took his power. You as a woman could easily overpower him, threaten him and kiss them even if they didn't want you to.

There was no escape when you tied them down like that. It was even easier to fuck with Mac, and so much more fun to do, because he had a girl. A girl he'd do anything for. He'd lay down his life if that's what it took to save that Jo girl. A nasty smile crossed her face as she further examined the now topless Mac.

She knew exactly how she would fuck his life up so bad he would beg her to stop.

He would get away from her this time and so would his precious Jo. But she knew he would only be out of her reach for a few short months.

Those months would be time for him to recover and for him and Jo to try and reset their lives the way they had been before she had fucked with them. But it was only a recovery period so she could play with them more.

What she had in mind was allowing nature to help her. If nature did the work, then she wouldn't have to get her hands too dirty. She had all intentions to help nature out though. A bridge failure.

There was only word she would need to know for that to happen. _Ka-boom._


	5. Chapter 5: Playing With Fire

**First off, I must apologize if that end of that last chapter didn't quite make sense, but I promise to make its significance much clearer as we progress!**

**Chapter Five: Playing With Fire**

"Oh my God…Mac…what the hell happened?" Jo questioned as Mac sat in front of her, his hands tied behind his back. Jo had her legs folded neatly underneath herself and her black hair was pulled back out of her face as she had one hand on Mac's cheek and the other on his arm.

"You don't want to know," Mac said with a quiet sigh as his ice blue eyes managed to escape her questioning ones.

"Mac…what happened?" she pried. She just had to know what the hell Quinn did to him. Very few things in this world could make Mac Taylor beg for things, especially begging with a criminal. She didn't want to know, yet…she just had to.

"Please…just…I'll tell you later," Mac said. He finally allowed her to look him right in the eye as he raised his head to look at her. Jo was wondering why he was trying to avoid the question when he leaned closer to her and kissed her.

Jo only hesitated for a very brief moment before she fully surrendered to his kiss, loving the fact that there was no hesitation on his part.

But then both of them snapped back to reality and they broke it up.

Jo sighed quietly and scooted around so she could sit beside him, her head laid carefully against his shoulder. She avoided his other shoulder, scared she'd only make whatever Quinn had done to him a whole lot more painful for him. She figured it looked a lot like a burn mark…almost like a brand on an animal.

The thought just made her sick.

Mac's thoughts wandered back to why Quinn was doing this. He just couldn't make sense of it.

_She gets those guys to take us from the bank and bring us here, knowing that there's no guarantee that she'll get _us_, and then she only toys with us a little…What is she trying to tell us? There's gotta be something more to this than just the simple pleasure of having me and Jo…And what about the ransom money? What's up with that?_

He frowned. Nothing made sense at this point.

It wasn't too long afterwards that Quinn sauntered in, playing with a stray strand of her long black hair just like any other time Mac and Jo had seen her.

She wore a soft, sweet, and deceptive smile. Mac did not like any of it at all. There was just no reason he shouldn't jump to conclusions about what she wanted with him.

"How much do you know about the area?" Quinn asked with a casual, questioning look fixed on Mac and Jo as she sat down on the floor a few feet from them. Jo found herself putting a protective hand on Mac's shoulder as Mac's blue eyes darkened in even more confusion than she'd seen in them before.

Quinn smiled as Mac fumbled for an answer to the question. He didn't know anything because he didn't know where the hell they were! What the heck was this supposed to be?

"Nothing at all?" Quinn offered for an answer.

Mac simply stared back at her, still trying to figure out what was up with her.

"Exactly. That's why I want to play a little game with you two; to help you get to know the house," Quinn continued.

Now something was extremely fishy. Mac didn't trust how her shoulders shrugged casually and her brown eyes looked around the room as if she expected a secret passage to pop out and announce itself to all of them. She was just shady and creepy…Mac didn't trust or like her one bit.

"Let's start upstairs!" Quinn said suddenly, standing up and motioning for Jo and Mac to stand up.

When Mac shot her an unenthused and dark look, she rolled her eyes. "Right, sorry. I forgot," she mumbled, sounding entirely insincere as she walked over casually and untied Mac's hands.

That's when Mac finally stood, Jo still right by his side, and rubbed at his sore wrists carefully. He thought about making a run for it, trying to take a swing at Quinn, but that thought was quickly thrown out the window as she pulled a gun on the two of them.

"Ready?" Quinn asked with a sweet, almost child-like smile. "Up the stairs and make a right. You're looking for the first door on your left then."

. . . . . . . .

"Anything new?" Danny asked as him and Don walked out to Don's car outside the precinct.

Don shook his head and let out a bit of a groan. "Nothing. I've checked with every team that comes and goes from the area North of the city and none of them picked up on anything suspicious looking or fitting the general idea of what we're looking for," he said. He rubbed at the back of his neck with one hand as Danny plunged his hands as far as he could in to his pockets, shaking his head in dismay.

"Do we have anything on that ransom call?" he tried again.

Don shook his head once more, his hand dropping from his neck and searching out his car keys from the pocket of his jacket. "No. Hawkes and Adam worked that over as much as they could and said they're still trying, but so far…nothing's working in our favor."

Danny nodded again as they reached Don's car. "Damn it," he muttered.

Don paused as he stood on the other side of the car, looking over the car at Danny with a bit of concern. "We'll find them, Messer. They'll be fine." He was trying to convince himself just as much as Danny.

Danny just sighed and shook his head as both he and Don got in the car. "I just can't believe we've got nothing on what happened to them. Usually the criminals that rob banks aren't so good at covering their tracks. Their main focus is getting the money and getting out," he said, looking out at the almost dreary-looking city after he put on his seatbelt.

Don started the car. That had just brought a thought up to him. "Then what were they really doing at the bank?" he asked, looking over at Danny.

Danny looked back over at him, at first confused. "What do you mean?"

"What if the whole thing was just a set-up?" Don asked, clarifying for Danny what he was getting at. "What if we're missing something? The real reason they went to that bank is clearly not to get the money if they were that prepared for taking Mac and Jo with them. Plus there was five guys against four civilians…usually those groups are a pair or a trio," he continued on.

Danny was finally nodding. That made sense and he was almost scolding himself for not seeing it earlier. "We need to tell the others, possibly go back to the bank and the statements from the witnesses. The answer to why this happened could be hidden there…and that could get us closer to finding out what the whole plan was and where Mac and Jo are."


	6. Chapter 6: Too Good To Be True

**Alright, I am wandering on the edge of a new story and this chapter…and I decided this chapter was more important so I decided to force my mind to put of evil ideas for a new story until at least after this chapter and possibly another for Relentless…**

**. . . . . . . .**

"Get your hands off of him!" Jo snarled.

Quinn spun around to face her and Jo felt sick at the amount of blood that slowly dripped off the sharp tip of the knife. "SHUT UP!" Quinn yelled at her. "I already told you, the more you yell, the longer I will make this for him!" she continued, thrusting the point of the knife in Mac's direction.

Jo saw Mac flinch like he was expecting Quinn to jab the knife in to his shoulder, but luckily for both him and Jo, she was about an inch and half too far from Mac to even touch him with the blade.

Quinn seemed to ponder over something for a moment and Mac took her hesitation here to try and get any type of control over his breathing and the pain that threatened to overwhelm everything else in his mind. The handcuffs dug painfully deep in to his skin as he stood there, unable to move at all because of how tightly Quinn had him tied up.

And then there was Jo. He could see the panic and fear in her eyes and he looked over at her, giving her as much reassurance as could with only a look.

"You know…" Quinn's drawled out beginning of a sentence brought Mac's and Jo's attention back to Quinn. She looked over at Jo. "I don't think I like you interrupting me," she said.

Mac strained against the cuffs at that. Whatever Quinn was thinking about, he didn't want her to hurt Jo.

Quinn spun back to face him and Mac quickly stopped and stared back at her, scared in to silence by the menacing look of the woman in front of him. Mac had known a lot of things, but he didn't think he'd ever met someone that scared him like this…

Quinn turned back to Jo. "I think you ought to leave," she said, laying down the knife.

Mac's brow furrowed in confusion. _Leave? What does she mean by 'leave'?_

Quinn stood Jo up and untied the ropes around her wrists and then stood back. "Find your own way out of here," she said simply. "Unless you want to watch him die," she added, turning around and grabbing the knife again.

Mac saw her hesitation. He knew she didn't want to leave, probably wouldn't leave.

Quinn saw the exchange of looks and rolled her eyes. "You have five minutes," she said, pulling the ductape off of Mac's mouth, making Mac flinch at the sting. She even let him on his feet again and it was no sooner that Quinn was out the door that Jo was at his side.

"I can't leave you," Jo said.

Mac looked at her. She had a steadying hand on his arm. "You have to," he said. His gaze was pleading.

"I'm not leaving you!" Jo insisted, helping him to sit down. He was in no shape that she could leave him on his own. Without thinking, Jo used the corner of her sleeve to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and Mac didn't protest as she sat beside him, looking him over.

"You have to get out of here," Mac finally said again as Jo was carefully looking over one of the cuts Quinn had scored across his neck. It ran diagonally and looked a lot worse than it was. Jo looked back at him and Mac shook his head when he saw the look in her eyes. "If you can find your way back to the lab, you can get the team and get back out here," he told her.

"Mac Taylor, I'm not leaving you on your own with that crazy bitch," Jo said, her voice a little harder than she intended.

Mac managed a smile at her word choice and he felt his shoulders slump in defeat. She wasn't going to let him win and he knew it. "Then we've got to find a way out."

Jo nodded and returned the smile. "_We_ are going to get out of here," she said.

Jo helped Mac to his feet and they both looked around. The room was dark except for the area where they were. Jo took a good look around before she headed for the door.

Thinking about it now…she didn't think Quinn had locked it.

She looked back at Mac, who nodded, before she reached for the knob on the door. When she pulled, the door opened.

Mac joined her as Jo looked up and down the hall. It was eerily silent in the house and the hallway was deserted.

"Clear?" Mac asked as Jo stepped quietly in to the hall.

Jo nodded and motioned for him to join her. "Clear," she confirmed with a nod.

They moved down the hall silently, holding hands.

"Is it just me or is she really confusing?" Mac finally asked as they reached the front door to the house. They hadn't seen Quinn or anyone else anywhere on their way there.

Jo shook her head. "We can ponder that once we're out of here. Right now, I just want away from this place," she said as she found the front door of the place was also unlocked and swung open.

Mac nodded and stepped outside with her. "Agreed," he said with a nod, closing the door behind the both of them. They both scanned the front yard with their eyes first before looking to the driveway. Two cars sat silently, facing the direction of the road Mac imagined they were brought in on.

Jo shook her head. "This is starting to get to the point of being too good to be true," she muttered. Mac nodded in agreement and they both headed for the cars, looking over their shoulders and expecting Quinn to jump up in front of them at any given moment.

Jo tried the driver's side door of the car closest to the road and Mac and her exchanged yet another surprised glance when the door opened.

"Got the keys?" Mac asked.

Jo leaned inside the car. Reaching somewhat blindly, she felt something hard brush against her fingers and heard a small, metallic _clink_ as keys hit each other from her moving them.

She stood and faced Mac again and nodded.

At the moment, neither of them questioned the strange easiness of their escape. Priority number one was to get out of there. So Jo got behind the wheel and Mac took shotgun. Jo started the car and looked over at Mac. "Any idea on which way we're going?" she asked.

Mac sighed and thought back to the ride over. He wasn't completely certain, but he nodded. "I'd say take a right out of here. We'll be on the road for a while," he said.

Jo nodded and with that, they left the living nightmare behind.

The first few minutes of the ride was awkward silence.

"You ok?" Jo finally asked, shooting a glance over at Mac.

Mac looked back over at her. "I have no idea," he replied, shaking his head.

His wrists were bruised from straining against the handcuffs and the ropes. Looking himself over, he certainly didn't look fine. He didn't feel all that great either, but nothing was extremely serious and they were out of there. For the moment, he was satisfied with that.

Jo nodded. "We'll head to the hospital first," she said, taking one of her hands off the wheel to brush her black hair out of her face.

Mac nodded and looked back out the window of the car, watching the trees fly by the vehicle as they drove.

"I still don't get it…why she let us leave that easily…," he muttered, shaking his head.

Jo sighed. She was just as lost for an answer to that question as he was. "Hopefully we can find that answer out later, once we're back at the lab with the team."

Mac nodded in agreement. For the moment, that question would have to go unanswered.

**. . . . . . . . . . .**

**Oohhh…what a twist! Did Quinn plan that? Hmmm….I don't know….Guess time will tell…**


	7. Chapter 7: Over The Bridge

**First off, thanks for all the reviews…but we're not finished with all the games quite yet, so best to not hold you up after keeping you waiting so long for this chapter, our last leg of this strange and twisted web of lies… or is it?**

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Quinn played with her phone as she kept an eye on the approaching car. She smiled wickedly.

"_I've got them in my sights. Make sure you hit that car head on or on the passenger side door. They'll know it's me if they survive. Oh, and make sure to lose asshole and his bitch of a friend over the bridge. I don't want either of them breathing when they make it back to their little science friends," _Quinn said with a grin in her voice.

"_You can bet your ass on it, baby. Taylor will learn his lesson one day or another."_

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**

"You know…it just doesn't make sense!" Somehow her and Mac had found a way to discuss what hell they'd just been through like they were outsiders looking in. Guess it was just the demeanor of the job.

"Nothing about that bitch ever made sense," Mac pointed out, his hand coming away from the back of his neck for a moment as his blue eyes gained a new level of confusion mixed with a hint of his burning temper that he'd somehow fueled out of nowhere if you asked Jo.

Jo nodded as she took the right on to the bridge. "So…exactly why did she let us slip away like that?"

Mac shook his head and was thinking about a response when he saw the truck. "Jo!" he yelled.

The last things that made perfect sense to either of them was the sound of tires screeching as Jo slammed the breaks and the sickening sound of metal on metal as the two cars collided.

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**

He stood over the two unconscious forms of the two Crime Scene Investigators that he now had laid out on the pavement. The front end of the car he'd pulled them from was smashed in and the headlights looked pretty upset the way they'd been crushed in with the rest of the front bumper.

"_Did you hit them?"_ Quinn's voice was no-nonsense tolerating.

"_Of course I did. What should I do with the car and our guests?"_ His voice was just as cold.

"_The car can go over the bridge, our guests in the trunk if you would like to have that much fun."_

"_Taylor I'm not sorry to leave, but his gal's easy on the eyes."_

"_Fine. Tie them both up and I'll be waiting to see Taylor's team on the 5 o' clock news within a few days. They'll find him soon enough."_

**. . . . . . . . . . . . .**

_**To Be Continued…**_


End file.
